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Tour bus crash in Southern California kills 13, injures 31

DESERT HOT SPRINGS, Calif. (AP) — Authorities say a maintenance crew was working on a California highway and slowing down traffic when a tour bus plowed into the back of a semi-truck early Sunday, killing 13 people.

Mangled bus seats are seen at left as emergency personnel work the scene where a tour bus crashed into the rear of a semi-truck on westbound Interstate 10 just north of the desert resort town of Palm Springs, in Desert Hot Springs, Calif., Sunday, Oct. 23, 2016. Multiple deaths and injuries were reported. (Colin Atagi/The Desert Sun via AP)

Workers prepare to haul away a tour bus that crashed with semi-truck on Interstate 10 just west of the Indian Canyon Drive off-ramp, in Desert Hot Springs, near Palm Springs, Calif., Sunday, Oct. 23, 2016. The tour bus and a semi-truck crashed on the highway in Southern California early Sunday, killing at least a dozen of people and injuring at least 30 others, some critically, the California Highway Patrol said. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Pena)

Workers remove debris from a semi-truck that crashed with a tour bus on Interstate 10, west of the Indian Canyon Drive off-ramp, in Desert Hot Springs, near Palm Springs, Calif., Sunday, Oct. 23, 2016. A tour bus and the semi-truck crashed on the highway in Southern California early Sunday, killing at least a dozen of people and injuring at least 30 others, some critically, the California Highway Patrol said. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Pena)

Emergency personnel work the scene where a tour bus crashed into the rear of a semi-truck on westbound Interstate 10, just north of the desert resort town of Palm Springs, in Desert Hot Springs, Calif., Sunday, Oct. 23, 2016. Multiple deaths and injuries were reported. (Colin Atagi/The Desert Sun via AP)

Trauma surgeon Ricard Townsend, who attended victims of the tour bus crash on Interstate 10, in Desert Hot Springs, Calif., talks about the injuries of the victims that he received at Desert Regional Hospital in Palm Springs, Calif., Sunday, Oct. 23, 2016. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Pena)

The damaged front of a tour bus is seen that crashed into the back of a semi-truck on Interstate 10 just north of the desert resort town of Palm Springs, in Desert Hot Springs, Calif., Sunday, Oct. 23, 2016. Several deaths and injuries were reported. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Pena)

Investigators make pieces of evidence after a tour bus crashed into the back of a semi-truck on Interstate 10 just north of the desert resort town of Palm Springs, in Desert Hot Springs, Calif., Sunday, Oct. 23, 2016. Several deaths and injuries were reported. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Pena)

Emergency personnel work the scene where a tour bus crashed into the rear of a semi-truck on westbound Interstate 10, just north of the desert resort town of Palm Springs, in Desert Hot Springs, Calif., Sunday, Oct. 23, 2016. Multiple deaths and injuries were reported. (Colin Atagi/The Desert Sun via AP)

Emergency personnel work the scene where a tour bus crashed into the rear of a semi-truck on westbound Interstate 10, just north of the desert resort town of Palm Springs in Desert Hot Springs, Calif., Sunday, Oct. 23, 2016. Multiple deaths and injuries were reported. (Colin Atagi/The Desert Sun via AP)

California Highway Patrol officers pick up items in bags after a tour bus crashed with a semi-truck on Interstate 10, west of the Indian Canyon Drive off-ramp, in Desert Hot Springs, near Palm Springs, Calif., Sunday, Oct. 23, 2016. The tour bus and the semi-truck crashed on the highway in Southern California early Sunday, killing at least a dozen of people and injuring at least 30 others, some critically, the California Highway Patrol said. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Pena)

Workers remove wreckage from a semi-truck that crashed with a tour bus on Interstate 10, west of the Indian Canyon Drive off-ramp, in Desert Hot Springs, near Palm Springs, Calif., Sunday, Oct. 23, 2016. A tour bus and the semi-truck crashed on the highway in Southern California early Sunday, killing at least a dozen of people and injuring at least 30 others, some critically, the California Highway Patrol said. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Pena)

This photo provided by KESQ NewsChannel 3/CBS Local 2 shows the scene of crash between a tour bus and a semi-truck on Interstate 10 near Desert Hot Springs, near Palm Springs, in California’s Mojave Desert Sunday, Oct. 23, 2016. Multiple deaths and injuries were reported. (Chris Tarpening/KESQ NewsChannel 3/CBS Local 2 via AP)

This photo provided by KESQ News Channel 3/CBS Local 2 shows the scene of crash between a tour bus and a semi-truck on Interstate 10 in Desert Hot Springs, near Palm Springs, in California’s Mojave Desert Sunday, Oct. 23, 2016. Multiple deaths and injuries were reported. (KESQ NewsChannel 3/CBS Local 2 via AP)

This photo provided by KMIR-TV shows the scene of crash between a tour bus and a semi-truck crashed on Interstate 10 near Desert Hot Springs, near Palm Springs, in California’s Mojave Desert Sunday, Oct. 23, 2016. Multiple deaths and injuries were reported. (KMIR-TV via AP)

Tow truck drivers prepare to haul away a tour bus that crashed with a semi-truck on Interstate 10, west of the Indian Canyon Drive off-ramp, in Desert Hot Springs, near Palm Springs, Calif., Sunday, Oct. 23, 2016. The tour bus and the semi-truck crashed on the highway in Southern California early Sunday, killing at least a dozen of people and injuring at least 30 others, some critically, the California Highway Patrol said. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Pena)

A makeshift memorial sits Monday, Oct, 24, 2016, in Los Angeles, near a tree for the victims of a vehicle collision. A tour bus returning home to Los Angeles from a casino trip slammed into the back of a semi-truck causing multiple fatalities and injuries near Palm Springs, Calif., on Sunday. (AP Photo/Alicia Chang)

California Highway Patrol Border Division Chief Jim Abele says the cause of the accident isn’t clear but that the bus carrying 44 passengers was going significantly faster than the truck when they crashed before dawn Sunday north of Palm Springs. An additional 31 people were injured.

CHP officers had been slowing traffic to allow Southern California Edison workers to string wires across Interstate 10. Abele says the work had gone on for hours without problems.

Abele says the bus was coming from Red Earth Casino in Thermal, California, and was about 35 miles into its 135-mile trip back to Los Angeles.

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